Inwood man shot, killed by cops was hit with Taser - but yanked it out: cops

Manhattan cops shot a knife-wielding man to death after he managed to pull a Taser out of his body early Sunday, police sources said.

Emmanuel Paulino, 23, was hit by several rounds outside his Inwood home in the second police-involved shooting in as many days.

An angry Paulino was waving a knife when four cops confronted him following a party on Vermilyea Ave. near 207th St. in Inwood, cops and witnesses said.

They ordered him to drop the knife, but he refused, witnesses said. Then a sergeant fired a Taser at him.

Two dart-like electrodes attached to wires hit Paulino, but the shock did not stop him, sources said.

"The darts went into him. He's being shocked at the time, and he pulls the darts out," a police source said.

After Paulino yanked out the darts, he "did continue toward the officers with the knife," the source added.

The cops then fired at least nine gunshots at him, striking him several times. He died at New York Presbyterian Hospital following the 5:37 a.m. incident.

Cops were initially called to the scene to quell the chaotic aftermath of a wild party.

Neighbors made two 911 calls, police said. One involved a report of a man with a knife. The other was about a man who was ranting that he wanted to kill a cop. Paulino is believed to have been the subject of both reports.

Elisabeth Rodriguez, 28, said she was awakened by noise in the street and saw the shooting through the window of her first-floor apartment on Vermilyea Ave.

"His name is Emmanuel Paulino. He was a young kid. He had a 4-inch pocket knife in his hand," she said.

"I looked out the window and he was surrounded by seven cops. He was getting angrier and pacing around. He didn't lunge at anyone. The cops said, 'Drop the knife! Drop the knife!' and his cousin said: 'Yo! Let me talk to him! I can calm him down!'

"All the cops drew their weapons. All of them. He kept pacing and they all shot him. He was walking in circles, not lunging."

Rodriguez said Paulino, who lived at 121 Vermilyea, had anger-management issues and had a previous brush with the law.

"He was a good kid. He just had problems with cops," she said.

"He'd been arrested before, but he was helpful and loved in this neighborhood," she added. "He always hugged my kids, and would help me with my bags if I needed."

Jose Lopez, 38, said the party was held in an apartment in his building, 122 Vermilyea.

"There was a huge party here since 2 a.m. When it was done, people were yelling in the streets and being crazy," he said.

"There were 20 or 30 kids in the street when it happened. I don't blame the cops. This is a horrible neighborhood and a bad building. There's drugs and parties here every weekend."

Police sources said the vast majority of people who are hit with a Taser round are incapacitated.

"This shows the extent of his psyche at the moment," one source said. "You get hit with that Taser, you're going down. The majority ... of the people are going down."

In the previous police-involved shooting, off-duty Correction Department officer Victor Hernandez, 35, was wounded in the arm after pointing a gun at cops in the Bronx early Saturday.